Dear duc du berry...

Thank you for commissioning beautiful works of art like "les tres riches heures..." and also this beautiful little gem. I know that you are a different duc, and that's okay. But thanks for being a patron of the arts. I also know you didn't demand this little guy, you really just wanted a coffin- a pretty place to store your bones in a church, where people could come and mourn for you, but thanks for picking Claus Sluter, who was able to bring the world compassion and emotion in stone.





I give you "Les Pleurants" (well, my favorite little guy)

Isn't he full of emotion? What I love most about this:

1. That he makes me feel what he's going through. He's sad-not tragic.

2. I love that his little face is a mystery-and that all I want to do is peak under the hood, and see what it's like.

3. How he's using his little monk robe to wipe his face, because it looks like a security blanket-type move-and gives him a childish innocence and tenderness-it makes me want to comfort him.

4. How his robe looks so soft, and drapey- and it's made of stone.

5. How his hand hovers over his heart-trying to sooth the breaking that's going on there.

I love that he is one of many called "the weepers." Isn't "weeping" much more evocative of the emotions behind it than just "crying" or "shedding tears"? When something sad or dissapointing or heart breaking and heart wrenching happens, I weep. When something annoying or frustrating or angering happens-I cry. you know? you know. You're all girls-you've done both.

here are a few of his other little friends (I keep saying little, because they all adorn the side of a sarcophagus, and are no more than a foot or so tall, and depict an actual procession of people in the funeral march for this duke. tender.